I have been doing 6 days shift work for the last 5 years. Only a month ago I got posted to a 5 day work week position. Let me tell you ... it is definitely a God send gift for me and my family! I've got three young children and we've been enjoying our time together especially during weekends since! Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy that:(
Ahhh....sounds like a nice break for you there. But different industries have different requirements so I dont think there can be a "one set fit all" model. Even though the MOE are practising it for the schools, some extra cirricular activites for active students are still held out there isnt it?
Ideally, the working hours for offices should be shorter especially for women with young children. 9 to 3pm would be great, more time can be spent with children. Nowadays both parents are working and come home late. This leads to communication breakdown with children and this shows in the increase in juvenile delinquency. Good home support is necessary in nurturing our young generation, with parents being so busy, it is no wonder that the quality of our youngsters is getting worse.
Moreover, I feel that to shorter working hours will enable a person to be more productive, currently, a lot of time is being wasted in the name of tea breaks, long meetings etc. Bosses should also get rid of the mindset that longer hours mean greater commitment or dedication by the staff.
It would be great to have a shorter work week but let us think about those who work every day and those in the public sector working long hours. So 5 and half days a week does not seem so bad compared to others.
4 and half days work, 5 days work and 5 and half days work week.
The argument.. all meaningless.
We should be contented if we have a job that can support our family....
Some countries, people are suffering, some people in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China are without jobs. No job, no food "How to take care of their children amd family?"
Young people choose their own path, even with much guidance and education - Nothing to do with adults working 5 days or 4 days.
Be contented, do your best in your job and be thankful if you have a job.
I think there should be a balance. Companies need people to be productive and make profits otherwise they will fold up and then everyone will be out of work. France in the late 90s made it mandatory to have shorter work week, i believe it was 35 hour work week. This was to help save jobs. The results were mixed but recently the French during their election clamour for more work hours. Many people realised that they are uncompetitive in a globalised world. In fact young French who are resourceful went to work in London to earn more and to be more productive.
Many people when they have more time on their hands do not know what to do. We may not be born to have too much leisure. We may end up fighting more than spending pleasurable time together. Definitely a debatable point and i do welcome comments on this. :-)
When i was working in a bank aeons ago, staff was asked if they prefer to work longer hours on week days and have a 5 day week, most chose that. The work week remains the same but you have Saturday off. I think that is great. Also comment that we have too many meetings etc if we work longer hours is true too, but it is the long meetings that should be adjusted first. Shorter work week does not translate to shorter meetings.
5 day workweek is actually sufficient... for the two other weekend, we could go and spend time together with family on leisure activites, most of all, with a 5 day workweek and a 2 full days of rest, it is resonable that the person can go for his or her work on the monday of the following week...
Perhaps we could have a way to reward productivity. Not hours a week/a month but perhaps a value could be set in certain projects and perhaps every month if a person has a certain number of points(the value), the number of hours the person has to fulfill the next month could be lowered and thus leading to certain 4 day work weeks which promote productivity and rewards it with a work-life balance?
It's not just about a 5 day week, it's more about the number of hours per day.. my contract (in itself a fine piece of satire) states 9-5... hmm not really worth the paper it's written on..... IF I am extremely lucky 8-6 is more apt (40 hours a month extra) and even that is waaaaaay less than is apparently classified as "the norm" her in SG. I have done my job on 3 continents for more than 15 years and this is the first time I have come across such ridiculous, unmanaged work practices. It would appear that "looking like you are available" is important but in reality, nothing gets done. That is the major difference between say the Japanese 16 hour day and the SG 16 hour day.. the Japanese get 16 hours worth of work done whereas in SG, about 5 hours worth get done and the rest of the time is spent trying to get somebody "less important" to do their work for them. 5 good 8 hour days should be sufficient to get project work done. If it is not then the project managers should be in question. 6 and 7 day weeks and 10-14 hour days are unnaceptable to normal workers... it's borderline sweatshop slavery. The otehr problem is that the cheap labour force brought here is so desperate to not go back to the sticks that they make themselves sick and neglect their children to continue this crazy cycle.... sooner or later it will hit the fan when law suits due to ill health give companies a bad name !
placing a rule across the board for lowered working hours may affect commercial interest locally. Instead to meet the same objective, why don't we proposed flexi options for employees. This flexi options may come in certain forms such as:
1. HR benefits in leave entitlement to be standardise across industries, and
2. if leave entitlement is lower than a stated national standard (example 21days..), to be compensated with additional pay/ claims
3. or, by promoting companies provide staffs time-off on 'interactive/ outdoor organized activities" to chill and interact as part of claimable working hours..
just my 2cents worth..
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